Mission: Shopping Trip
by Red Castellan
Summary: Max Tate really needs to get something from the shopping mart, something he can't let his teammates know, because if they find out, they'll judge him. But then he stumbles across the captain at the wrong time... Will his secret be safe?


When Max Tate decided to go shopping alone, the fellow teammates from Blade Breakers were surprised. Max often dragged Tyson along when he went food hunting, and asked Hillary to accompany him for clothes shopping trips due to the latter having a superior sense of fashion for both men and women.

But that day, young Mr Tate decided to go alone, away from the prying eyes of his teammates. Nobody seemed to understand why he was doing it, and Tyson attempted to question him countless times in numerous ways to get an answer, but to no success. And soon, Max was gone.

The young blond didn't want them to know why he went alone. He would throw in a few generic items to pass it off, but his teammates couldn't know. They'd not understand, ever. He didn't want to be a laughing stock. No, he'd just do it and then... After doing it, he didn't care about their reaction.

As he started looking everywhere in the store for his desired object, he noticed another guy pull a shopping trolley from outside and enter the mart.

Max's breathing hitched, his eyes widened, and he ducked behind the crockery shelf, peeping from behind it. No... This couldn't be... This couldn't be! He had taken so many precautions, chosen a mart he'd never visited so that his teammates wouldn't catch him, and yet! His secrets were going to be revealed, and the new thing he wanted to try would be exposed! How could this happen?! He'd been waiting for so long, so long...

And yet, Max couldn't help but wonder what exactly Kai Hiwatari was doing there. Maybe he often visited this mart... Because the rest of the Blade Breakers didn't! Max slapped his forehead.

"Excuse me, son, what are you doing?"

Max jumped at the sound, almost screaming, but stopped himself. Kai would recognise his voice.

He saw an elderly attendant looking kindly at him, albeit a little confused. Max's heart was beating, but he tried to regain his composure.

" Yes, yes you can, sir. It'll be really appreciated."

And then Max told him, embarrassed and uncomfortable, about the two set of things he actually needed. He used one regularly, and the other he had used once, but nobody knew. He had loved it! He still had dreams about it, and he didn't know whether a different variant would work.

"Oh son, it's this way!"

"No!" Max exclaimed, earning a frown. He levelled his voice.

"I know that guy- Kai's getting groceries?!" he almost yelled it out, for he had never imagined a day like this would come. Kai Hiwatari, who barely spoke to his team, was buying vegetables! Max could feel his jaw drop to the floor as his muscular friend went about buying stuff.

" Son?"

" Yeah, yeah," Max was dragged back to reality as he tore his eyes away from this unrealistic dream of their captain buying something as ordinary as vegetables, "I mean, he might judge me, mister."

"The way you're judging him now?"

"Wh-what?"

"Nothing, son. Follow me and we'll avoid being seen by your friend."

"Sure, thank you!"

And it was a relief to walk around three different aisles to get to the point that needed only about half a minute to reach, because Kai Hiwatari had not seen Max Tate. He couldn't... What if he thought it was inappropriate?

The attendant took his leave and Max quickly began his search. He needed to work fast! And get away fast! Heart beating as if he'd run a marathon, he rummaged through the various shelves, until he stumbled upon what he was looking for. Ah, there it was! He quickly threw in the box in the bag, and then started searching for the other set of products, the one that he used often, but if someone were to know... Max couldn't imagine the embarrassment.

But it was only a matter of time until he found that too. Yes! Now he just had to pay the bill and run! He'd pick the generic stuff to camouflage these from somewhere else! There was only one goal on his mind and that was to get away safely. He didn't want to be judged!

Luck favoured him and he couldn't believe that there was no queue to get billed. He hadn't seen Kai again, and he hoped he'd already left. As he started walking towards the door, a hand gripped his shoulder.

Max Tate dropped his shopping bag on the floor.

"Why are you avoiding me?"

Kai looked down at the boy, who felt like disappearing into thin air at the moment. What if, what if Kai saw what was in the bag?!

"A-avoiding you? Never!" Max said as cheerfully as he could, "But, how come you're here Kai?"

"Ray called me to let me know that Tyson and Daichi ate up everything he'd cooked for dinner, so needed vegetables to cook again," Kai replied, as if grocery shopping he did every day.

"Oh. Alright Kai, I should-"

"Why are you here?"

"I-uh-I was shopping! Found what I needed. Now bye!"

And with that Max Tate started walking away as fast as he could.

"Max, you left your bag behind."

"DON'T LOOK INSIDE!"

But it was too late. With a sinking feeling in his heart, Max watched as Kai saw what he had bought. The blond didn't want to think about his shame... What would he do now?

"You wear makeup," Kai said, "To make your skin look clear. And black colour will certainly suit your hair."

With that, Kai handed him the bag and brushed past him.

Kai Hiwatari found out he used makeup for his flawless skin.

Kai Hiwatari also found out that he was about to dye his hair black.

And that was the longest he had talked in a while.

Max blinked a couple of times. No wait... He couldn't let his secret be known! Especially the makeup one!

"KAI PLEASE DON'T TELL ANYONE!"

**Okay, so I know this is really random, but I felt like writing this. Do let me know what you guys think! Are you surprised that Max wears makeup to look flawless? Or that he's about to dye his hair black?! Let me know! Thanks for reading!**


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